How Much It Really Costs to Go to Burning Man This Year

How much does it actually cost to survive for four days in the desert?

That’s a question everyone who makes the trek to Burning Man must answer. The annual gathering in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, located two hours north of Reno, brings in over 65,000 people to build a temporary city and, of course, burn a giant effigy.

The tenets of Burning Man—radical inclusion, self-reliance, decommodification and self-expression—are on display for the nine-day event, which kicks off this year on Aug. 27. Indeed, the whole experience is essentially a test of extreme living and sustainability.

Matt Steele (L) and Soroya Rowley read the poem on the Blunderwood Portable art installation during the Burning Man "Carnival of Mirrors" arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, September 4, 2015.

Jim Urquhart—Reuters

Because it’s not exactly a festival, there’s no scheduled entertainment, although attendees are encouraged to bring their own music and art to share. And there’s no local Whole Foods or any food trucks: Everything you need, you have to bring in with you—and carry it all out as well. Burning Man requires attendees leave the desert as they found it, frowning upon any “matter out of place” (MOOP)—aka any trash left behind. You also need to plan for a wide range of temperatures: With the pop-up community situated on a silt “Playa,” it can get up to 90 degrees during the daytime and then drop to 50 degrees at night.

The art installation Pulse & Bloom is seen during the Burning Man 2014 "Caravansary" arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, August 29, 2014.

Jim Urquhart—Reuters

There are some ways to attend without bringing everything yourself. You can hook up with a group or camp, where you may have to pay an average of $300 in “camp dues” for shared amenities; these can range from cooked meals, booze, and camp showers to a shared kitchen and cabanas. But these groups are formed early, so if you haven’t found your niche yet, you may be on your own.

Members of the Trash Kan Marchink Band perform as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gather for the 30th annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, August 29, 2016.

Jim Urquhart—Reuters

MONEY reviewed the survival guide distributed by Burning Man organizers, as well as several other guides, to estimate how much it would cost for one person to do a four-day trip to Burning Man 2017.

Getting There

$450: Ticket + fees

$427: Round-trip average airfare to Reno estimated by Hopper (or splurge by flying right into Black Rock City, for an average $1,250)

(clockwise from top left) Joseph Hren of San Francisco sporting a retro look while spending the week at Burning Man, August 29, 2008; Radiant Fire (L) and Sonya Sophia walk across the Playa at sunrise during the Burning Man 2015 "Carnival of Mirrors" arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, September 3, 2015; Sarah Tang wears a unicorn head piece as she dances during the Burning Man 2015 "Carnival of Mirrors" arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, September 5, 2015.